Just wondering how you guys have gone about selling your cars in the past? Do you take accessories off or leave them on? And do you trade-in to a dealer or sell on gumtree or Carsales? Found this place that seems to offer a half-decent price on my car:

Gumtree / Ebay are full of scammers and bottom feeders, but ok for free / relativley low cost I guess.

I usually clean them up really good and sign up to advertise on the go, sometimes park them at 'places', but you have to be careful now depending on our location doing this, local councils can / will fine you if on a road / parked public reserve etc.

A good way to sign them up is put basic info > For Sale, Ph #, maybe a price $, followed by ono or neg if negotiable.
Write on the outside of rear door windows, and IF these windows ren't filmed, go over this in reverse following the texta with a white paint pen, then wipe texta off.
If the windows are filmed, use the white paint pen on the outside of the glass, but this won't last as long as on the inside surface.

I haven't sold a car in years now, but when I used to do this method, I haven't even got home sometimes and the phone has rung !!

Generally, mods & aftermarket accessories add virtually nil to the sale or maket value of a vehicle, unless you happen to find someone willing to buy who is keen on the fully set up 4WD or keen on getting just those mods/accessories; so anything that is readily removeable should be removed! You can always throw them into the mix if you think it'll close the sale once you've got someone looking & interested, but don't expect to get an extra $10k for your $10k or even $15k worth of mods/accessories, they just aren't worth it (or really anything) to Dealers or most potential buyers & they won't add anything or be considered in any of the pricing or insurance value models available!! In fact, in many cases even just knowing that they were fitted once can detract from the market value of the vehicle (again, unless you have a potential buyer who's keen on them/the total package)!!

Dealers (or CarBuyersOnline) are always going to give you the least money they can for any vehicle if you are selling outright rather than trading, & they are quite adept at telling you the vehicle isn't worth anywhere near what you want even if they have a buyer waiting to buy it from them for twice the price immediately you leave their lot - but you can't force them (or anyone for that matter) to buy it from you, so they get to choose what they are prepared to pay you & they WILL factor in any perceived risk or potential cost they can find or make up - and fronting up with a modded & kitted out vehicle that is in less than completely immaculate 'as new' condition is going to be an immediate red flag for most, particularly if you can't hand over full & complete copies of impeccable documentation showing meticulous adherence to schedules throughout the vehicles entire life re maintenance!! So unless you've got that vehicle & that documentation, you are probably going to be best off selling privately, but it WILL almost certainly take you longer & mean you've gotta put up with all sorts of imbeciles who have little or no idea of what they want let alone are on about in amongst the 'real' buyers.... So if you can afford the time & effort, you will almost always get a better price (but not a stupid price) from a private sale than a dealer or on-line buyer (unless maybe the on-line buyer is a scammer, in which case they may offer a good price, but of course in the long run, you end up with Zilch - or ripped off even more!! )

Watching the adverts here & elsewhere, along with buying & selling a vehicle or six over the years, unless you are selling a 'less than $2k banger' then your best bet is going to be selling thru CarSales or a similar vehicle specific listing, or maybe using a Consignment Lot if you want it to be available for people to look at but can't provide full-time security & oversight yourself - sure, there's a fee for using those sites/places, and they will often take a few weeks or even a couple of months to sell, so the fees can add up over time, but you tend to get better prices for the vehicle than you'd ever get from a dealer or selling off the street/out of your yard & there's far less risk of it being flogged or trashed in the meantime - do you realise how many cars are stolen after being advertised other than on CarSales?? Besides, the fee is relatively minor in the overall scheme of things, the process of advertising etc thru to the sale itself is generally fairly well laid out for you to follow plus there's overall less risk & hassle for you than trying to do the whole lot all by yourself off the street or out of your yard!! You still hafta do all your due-diligence with the sale paperwork & following the local 'rules' for selling vehicles/transferring ownership etc; plus if you use CarSales you need to take care about who/when/where you let people view/drive it or even know where it's garaged as well as making sure that you get appropriate deposits & money in a useable form that can't be recalled without your approval before letting them drive it off &/or even handing over the keys/title etc but hey, you should e doing that anyway!

Whichever way you go, Good Luck!

An Ex-Service person is someone who thought enough about their country & how great it is, how lucky we are to live here, to write a blank cheque made out to 'The People and Commonwealth of Australia' for the value of 'Up to & including my Life!'

If you've got a fully set up vehicle, do some research thru CarSales etc first - if there are similar vehicles appeariing & moving off the listings with all their gear fitted, you can compare their asking prices (CarSales will have price comparisons & advice for you anyway!) & if they look OK to you, maybe it could be that there are people out there willing to pay what you are after. In that case, it might be worth putting an advert up on CarSales for a while & seeing what sort of interest you get with it as is & at a price you are comfortable with. And if there isn't any interest atm in fully set up vehicles, you can take all the access off & sell them separately or just keep them for 'ron, can't you!! As for their fees, the cost is a once off fee these days, isn't it - something around $65 ish for a std advert with up to 15 pics & $110 for the bigger/more pics, isn't it??

Once you've started setting up an advert/listing that will be visible to about 3 million potential buyers, including many looking specifically for your type of vehicle, CarSales can give you a lot of help & info about setting prices, comparisons with similar vehicles, the length of time it might take you to sell, and even what sort of things might make your sale happen quicker - so I'd strongly recommend you check them out & decide if you want to spend the $$ before doing too much else, you can always decide not to take it any further if you are uncomfortable - but hey, they do try to SELL CARS for a reasonable fee, after all, if no-one sold anything thru them or it cost too much, they wouldn't exist for long, would they?! And you generally get access to far more potential buyers & don't run anywhere near the risks you run thru going wholly private - no-one gets to see where the vehicle is garaged &/or your details (unless you tell them... ) without talking to you first; you don't even hafta show them where you keep the car if they want to see it (local supermarket car parks are great for when people want to check it out!) nor do you hafta leave it on a street corner unattended to get people to look at the advert; and if you decide that person sounds dodgy, you can choose to hang up the phone or block them from your (especially added for the sale) hotmail email account without any risk to you - not something you can do if the car is sitting around somewhere with an advert on the window, is it now?!

$65 for all that & the peace of mind in not telling the world where you are or having to leave it out on the street for people to see the advert!! Hmmm, tough call?!

Ps; no, I don't get a commission from CarSales!

An Ex-Service person is someone who thought enough about their country & how great it is, how lucky we are to live here, to write a blank cheque made out to 'The People and Commonwealth of Australia' for the value of 'Up to & including my Life!'

chrisschim wrote:Thanks for your advice! I'll give that a go I think! Not too keen on forking out the money to Carsales, so this might be the go.

Chris, re-read my hasty post above, should be reading a bit clearer so you don't stuff up window film (if fitted).

Try this . . .

Write on the outside of rear door windows the text you want in texta, and IF these windows aren't filmed, go over this on the inside of the glass in reverse following the texta with a white paint pen, then wipe texta off the outside.
If the windows are filmed, use the white paint pen on the outside of the glass only, but this won't last as long as on the inside surface.

Ive used gumtree and also listed on the various model specific fb pages.
My hilux had quite a few extras and the price reflected this. Not big dollar bits but just enough to get interest. Sold through gumtree to a young guy that saw it and had all the intentions to put the same stuff on. He saw the value. Only takes one buyer.
Prado 120 also sold on gumtree for what I feel was top dollar. Only listed a week and minimal tyre kickers.

For starters, be realistic with the price, don't expect top dollar unless it is immaculate and has really low K's, even then, don't expect it to go in a hurry.

I've sold a few cars and bikes and could have probably got a bit more for them, but it wasn't worth my while waiting 6 months for someone to come along and give me $1000 more than I was asking. In that time there is 6 months less rego and the vehicle is 6 months older.
Sometimes you are better off taking the hit and getting rid of it.

Traded in a rust bucket that didn't have enough metal in it for the wreckers to be interested. $2000 guaranteed trade in, of course the dealer didn't lose, but I wasn't ripped too badly either.
Got raped by the dealer with a trade in.
Got my own back, traded a car that had a shot gearbox to the same dealer and got a good changeover. WIN!
I sold a bike sort of on eBay. It didn't hit the reserve, but the top bidder came for a look and we negotiated a price over the reserve.
Sold a car through Car Sales.
Sold a 4x4 and 2 bikes through the computer bulletin board at work. This is the least painful option, but if it a dunga and going to have issues, you still have to work with these people.

Gumtree seems to be getting worse. Writing things like "no timewasters or idiots"
doesnt do much. Even have people coming, negotiating on price,saying they want something then going away to think about it and never returning. After
spending 20 mins going through the car with them and having them drive
it,ask all sorts of stupid questions, make you fold everything out then pick
on things that are non issues.

I'm over it to be honest, listing things at reasonable amounts or more than reasonable and asking for some decency seems to be out the window these days for the most part.

I know that it is kind of what you expect from gumtree but it's
getting out of control. Not just time wasting but really elaborate time wasting.

Some people i dont think have anything better to do.

After having these young guys waste my time for about half an hour
and drive the car around,we got back home, and one turns to the other and says-
"did you want to just drive around in it for a while?" Took some decent self
control to get through that one.

Just constant time wasters. You also run the risk of having some donkey
put it in 4wd on the concrete and nearly bind up the transfer case.
I've had it all. And i'm over it.

Also hate knowing the ute is mechanically a1 having built it myself, and having people who dont know anything about cars say it needs work.

Yes, selling takes a bit of patience and skill nowadays
Used to be a lot more fun many years ago.

Why having it parked up on display, signed in the right place, close to home can be easier.
Many people are looking for something, drive by, see it, they can turn around if it looks worth a second check, already qualified when they ring you, they have seen it and had a walk around etc.
If they ring you, they're half sold !!

you wouldn't go wrong selling with carsales. I have sold 4 4wds on there and all sold within a month or just over.
for the money its well worth it, plenty of views and a sticker.

I don't remove any accessories unless it suits me personally, phone cradle to suit, sometimes id keep the uhf.
I agree with above comments on the accessories/modifications not adding extra $$$ to the vehicle, but I think if it has these, it adds extra appeal, some want something well setup with everything, or some think if its well setup, that it is used and abused and would want something stock looking.

I'm very honest with my ads when selling, I list everything about the car, don't sugarcoat things and don't lie if something isn't perfect.

carsales is great, 3 of my 4 sold went to different states in Australia, so its great exposure. I spoke to the bloke who bought my first hilux a long time ago, he said he travelled across aus in it and the only thing he didn't like was the 33'' tyres for touring.

Carbuyersonline or wewantyourwheels (or others like them) are a waste of time. I was trying to sell an X5 a little while ago, and I got a quote of 14K from wewantyourwheels. Given that it was worth about 12 this seemed like a good deal, although I was sceptical about getting 14 for it. If I turned up and was offered 10 I would have taken it (which is what I eventually sold it for).

Anyhow, I turned up and was offered 7. Astonished that ANYONE would wear this (being offered 50% of the quoted price I left). I then wrote a letter of complaint, with a bill for $200 for wasting my time. And threatened to go to the media about them.

Next thing I get a phone call from a very well known and respected car dealer in Perth saying that he didn't appreciate being threatened but was happy to pay me for my time, and I received a cheque for $200.